Investigation Quotes

“I don't remember Sherlock Holmes ever mentioning what you are supposed to do when you've eliminated everything improbable, and nothing is left.”
― Donnie Eichar, Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

“Indeed, to this day, I think if you blame everything on the government, you're not just wrong, you're being reckless. It's as silly as blaming everything on the Freemasons, or the Illuminati, or insert-bad-guy-here. But I do believe that someone must ask the hard questions, especially of our elected officials as well as powerful men who become members of so-called secret societies. Remember: Governments don't lie. People lie. And if you want the real story, you need to find out more about those people.”
― Brad Meltzer, History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time

“You have a freckle,” he murmured. “Right” – he leaned down and dropped a light kiss near the inside of her elbow – “here.”
“You’ve seen it before,” she said softly. It wasn’t in an immodest spot; she had plenty of frocks with short sleeves.
He chuckled. “But I’ve never given it it’s proper due.”
“Really.”
“Mmm-hmm.” He lifted her arm, twisting it just a bit so that he could pretend to be studying her freckle.
“It is clearly the most delightful beauty mark in all of England.”
A marvelous sense of warmth and contentment melted through her. Even as her body burned for his, she could not stop herself from encouraging his teasing conversation.
“Only England?”
“Well, I haven’t traveled very extensively abroad…”
“Oh, really?” “And you know…” His voice dropped to a husky growl.
“There may be other freckles right here in this room. You could have one here.” He dipped a finger under the bodice of her nightgown, then moved his other hand to her hip.
“Or here.”
“I might,” she agreed.
“The back of your knee,” he said, the words hot against her ear
. “You could have one there.”
She nodded. She wasn’t sure she was still capable of speech.
“One of your toes,” he suggested.
“Or your back.”
“You should probably check,” she managed to get out.
He took a deep, shuddering breath.”
― Julia Quinn, Because of Miss Bridgerton

“If we ought to philosophize
we ought to philosophize, and if we ought not to philosophize
we ought to philosophize ; in either case, therefore, we ought
to philosophize. For if philosophy exists we ought certainly
to philosophize, because philosophy exists ; and if it does not
exist, even so we ought to examine why it does not exist,
and in examining this we shall be philosophizing, because
examination is what makes philosophy.”
― Aristotle

“I’ve now come to realize that getting excited about a suspect is a lot like that first surge of stupid love in a relationship, in which, despite vague alarm bells, you plow forward convinced that he is the One.”
― Michelle McNamara, I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

“Always ask at the pub, Miss Jekyll. Elementary investigation - the pub always knows.”
― Theodora Goss, The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

“Nobody seems to remember you from any of your employers.”
“I guess I’m not very memorable”
― Kenneth Eade, To Russia for Love

“The foundation of data gathering is built on asking questions. Never limit the number of hows, whats, wheres, whens, whys and whos, as you are conducting an investigation. A good researcher knows that there will always be more questions than answers.”
― Karl Pippart III

“You don't have to believe in coincidences because they happen every day. The trick is to be able to discern when something is more than coincidence.”
― Glenn Jones, Introduction to Intelligence Analysis - work in progress

“In the grace of the Truth, re-examine all that you have been told.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“He resolved for Detective Geyer to undertake a careful and methodical search for the blunder which a criminal always makes between the inceptions and consummation of his crime.”
― J.D. Crighton, Detective in the White City: The Real Story of Frank Geyer

“Investigation was like a series of job interviews. Getting the door slammed in your face at every attempt wasn’t the exciting life of the detective portrayed on film or television.”
― Kenneth Eade

“Conduct a detailed investigation of this issue or a field you are interested in”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Expect to be blatantly harassed by the local utility company and corporate controlled law enforcement departments when investigating utility fraud.”
― Steven Magee

“Learning to interpret the constant string of lies and excuses fed to you from kids terrified of failure but careening towards it anyway was boot camp for behavioral interpretation. My guys didn't know who the hell they were but they were angry, addled and belligerent, so half the time I was screaming at them and the rest of the time I was holding their trembling little hands. It was a great job and I was a great coach, but that's the past and dinner with the Dyars was the present—and sussing out the current crowd was no worse than taming a team on the bus home so amped on testosterone they often tried to kill their best friends.”
― Kendric Neal, To the Metal

“I get a little obsessive, it was my hallmark as a coach. I'm more effective when it gets personal and I tend to stick with a thing until it gets personal. I haven't been doing this that long but so far, knock on wood, I've never had to give up. There's something rewarding about it—when you grab that first slender thread that unravels the whole web. I just can't stand seeing anyone get away with something, and I'm dreading the first time I have to walk away from a case knowing who did it and why, but that there's nothing I can do about it. Amy's right to worry, I'm the world's worst loser, as several generations of junior high teams could tell you. I still mourn games I lost 10 years ago. I swear, I wake up sweating and angry over a pass-action I should have known not to call, I'm not kidding. It's not healthy.”
― Kendric Neal, To the Metal

“My style isn't subtle, I know that. I'm sure in fact it violates all kinds of rules about interrogation and all that, I never studied the field. I'm not sure it would have helped anyway—some of the greatest quarterbacks of all time had unconventional styles, I think that's the way the world ought to work. You don't take a guy who's finding success and make him unlearn his style and do it the traditional way, it's encouraging mediocrity. Nobody ever knew when Randall Cunningham was going to get happy feet or when Favre was going to shovel pass a TD out of a sack. You train that stuff out of them and you take away that surprise. So I ask questions, I look for soft, spongy areas and push on them to see if the person cries out. It doesn't endear me to a lot of people, but I've got enough friends and I'm not looking for more.”
― Kendric Neal, To the Metal

“We played a couple games of pool and shared a basket of fried shrimp and onion rings. He was a good player, but on long shots I noticed his hands shook. I hadn't noticed it before but his motor control was clearly damaged; sometimes he'd go through several positions to arrive at the one he wanted, as though he had to sneak up on it. “I used to be a better player,” he said quietly, and I thought about what it must feel like at his age to say something like that. We hugged each other goodbye and I don't think it was just the tequila. I think he'd finally started to trust me and let me in past the front door.
That was the last time I saw him.”
― Kendric Neal, To the Metal

“I say, Parker, these are funny cases, ain't they? Every line of inquiry seems to peter out. It's awfully exciting up to a point, you know, and then nothing comes of it. It's like rivers getting lost in the sand.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Whose Body?

“It must have taken very careful management to have moved these three separate parties from Detroit to Toronto, without either of the three discovering either of the others, but this great expert in crime did it, and did it successfully,” Geyer later said.”
― J.D. Crighton, Detective in the White City: The Real Story of Frank Geyer

“Despite a protective Geyer threatening to “break the neck of the first reporter who attempted to interview the woman,” a determined reporter caught Mrs. Pitezel on her way out of the Rossin House dining room.”
― J.D. Crighton, Detective in the White City: The Real Story of Frank Geyer

“Rot! Absolute rot! Hatch was merely an alias of Holmes. He had as many as a city directory, but he used the name Hatch frequently. If Hatch did the killing, Holmes will hang for it, for Holmes and Hatch are one and the same person,' Linden said.”
― J.D. Crighton, Detective in the White City: The Real Story of Frank Geyer

“For a significant and reliable investigation and spy, one has to pose and pretend, even adopt awkward tricks.”
― Ehsan Sehgal

“The investigation is to find the crime; whereas, the spying is to commit the crime.”
― Ehsan Sehgal

“Don’t leave town”—she’d said that right before she left, preceded by “person of interest.” And the girl’s face was there too. Amber Inglin’s pretty, scared face, dropped into his mind like a quarter into the coke machine Frank insisted they have for the crew.
The girl, lying in his field, decay already starting—it was hot. Imagining flies attracted by the sweetish smell of recent death, he fought off nausea. The line of trees at the back of the eastern vineyard wavered into a strange, watery mirage. Or maybe she wasn’t there anymore—they’d have removed her by now, to the coroner’s, or a morgue.”
― Cynthia Robinson, Birds of Wonder

“No investigation of the human story in the Americas [...] can ignore the role of Siberia as a crossroads in the migrations of our ancestors. Moreover, despite the fact that only a tiny fraction of its vast area has yet been sampled by archaeologists, we already know that anatomically modern humans were present in both western and Arctic Siberia at least as far back as 45,000 years ago. We know, too, that DNA studies have revealed close genetic relationships between Native Americans and Siberians that speak to a deep and ancient connection.”
― Graham Hancock, America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization

“Honest investigation can result only in growth.”
― Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

“Ryan only had one name to help him get to his mother, and he had no idea of who it belonged to.
Even worse, his dad had gone missing two days before, and he was clueless as to what had happened to him as well.”
― Moira Daly, A Personal Investigation

“Well, we’ve got to get close to the Webbers, right?” Sky’s question was rhetorical as Henry stopped by her side.
“Yes,” Georgiana and Ryan replied in unison.
“I’ve figured out a way to do it,” Sky beamed.”
― Moira Daly, A Personal Investigation

“He ordered black bread and cheese. Very clever, she thought, he thinks that's all we Russians eat.”
― Jason Matthews, Red Sparrow